CONVERSION - CHANGE OF HEART IS GOD’S WORKWeekly message No. 104 (20th February 1986).Meditation on the Passion of Jesus helps us to repentance and conversion.

“Dear children! The second message of these Lenten days is that you renew prayer before the cross. Dear children, I am giving you special graces and Jesus is giving you special gifts from the cross. Take them and live! Reflect on Jesus’ Passion and in your life be united with Jesus! Thank you for having responded to my call.” PRACTICAL:Make the Stations of the Cross as often as you can during Lent.

Thursday: The fulfilment of the Law.

Matthew 5:17-19. 17“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Thursday: Cf. Romans 10:4.4For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.

Friday: Prophecy about the suffering of Jesus.

Isaiah 53:1-31Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Saturday: Psalm 22 (21):6-8. 6But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men, and despised by the people. 7All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; 8“He committed his cause to the LORD; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”

Sunday: “Jesus was bearing our sins in His body on the Cross so that we might die to our sins.”

1 Peter 2:21-25. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. 23When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

Monday: Christ expiating the sins of the people.

Hebrews 2:14-18. 14Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. 16For surely it is not with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham. 17Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. 18For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Monday: Cf. Romans 8:3.3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

Tuesday: The Crucifixion.

Mark 15:23-39. 23And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it. 24And they crucified him, and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25And it was the third hour, when they crucified him. 26And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31So also the chief priests mocked him to one another with the scribes, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 33And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Elo-i, Elo-i, lama sabach-thani?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” 35And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last. 38And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Wednesday: The pierced Heart of Jesus.

John 19:31-37. 31Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; 33but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. 35He who saw it has borne witness--his testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth--that you also may believe. 36For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of him shall be broken.” 37And again another scripture says, “They shall look on him whom they have pierced.” PRAYER BEFORE THE CRUCIFIX

Behold, O kind and most sweet Jesus, I cast myself on my knees in your sight, and with the most fervent desire of my soul, I pray and beseech you that you would impress upon my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, with a true repentance for my sins, and a firm desire of amendment, while with deep affection and grief of soul I ponder within myself and mentally contemplate your five most precious wounds; having before my eyes that which David spoke in prophecy of you, O good Jesus: “They pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones.”